Ric Flair’s Last Match notes: Flair’s health, show changes, production team


Following Sunday’s Ric Flair’s Last Match pay-per-view, Dave Meltzer provided some notes on how the “Nature Boy” is doing, some changes to the show, and who was handing production.
Meltzer said that there were two family doctors backstage that are close with Megan Fliehr, one of Flair’s daughters. He said Flair “was said to be fine after the show.”
“It was interesting because a lot of people I know really liked the main event who were in the building, because of the drama and such, but man, was it hard to watch from home,” he said.
A star-studded audience
Meltzer did a roll call of the various wrestling luminaries that were in the house for the event, both in the crowd and backstage:
“Mick Foley, Michael Hayes, Shane Helms, Magnum T.A., J.J. Dillon, Vickie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio, Charlotte Flair, Rikishi, Baby Doll, Al Snow, Undertaker, Bret Hart, Stephanie Hart, Michelle McCool, Mojo Rawley, Sammy Guevara, Ricky Starks, Billy Gunn, Dorian Roldan, Santino Marella, Kid Rock and likely many others. WWE active talent was not allowed to appear on camera although Dolph Ziggler was in a video clip and called by his real name: Nick Nemeth.”
He also noted Flair was emotional and crying all day in seeing so many wrestlers and former talent come out for the event.
Production team
Meltzer said that former WWE producer Brian James and Impact’s Scott D’Amore produced and timed the show. Additionally, David Sahadi and Josh Matthews produced while Keith Mitchell, who headed up production for AEW before retiring in May, worked the show as well.
Card changes & injuries
Meltzer said MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone was supposed to be the one to go after Frank The Clown on the pre-show, but due to his flight being canceled, he was unable to attend. Jacob Fatu filled in instead as he was on the show already.
The Von Erichs vs. Briscoes match was pushed back to later on the card as Marshall & Ross’ flight from Hawaii was delayed. They missed a meet & greet earlier in the day and were rushed to the building upon arrival to make the match.
As discussed on Wrestling Observer Radio Sunday, Rachael Ellering suffered a badly sprained ankle in her three-way match with Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace and Deonna Purrazzo. The injury occurred early in the match when Grace rolled on it accidentally, resulting in a loud pop. She continued to work the match, gutting through it.
Ellering hasn’t given an update as of this writing, but did post about it after the match:
Thank you all so very much for the kind words and thoughtful messages. My ankle is now a softball but somehow Iām still thriving!
Tonight meant a lot to me in many different ways. I appreciate you being on the journey with me š
— Rachael Ellering (@RachaelEllering) August 1, 2022